Wednesday, June 19, 2019

I suspect that you had never heard of Bella Thorne. You, like me, had never heard of this actress until she posted some topless photos of herself on Instagram. She did it because a hacker had gotten hold of them and threatened to post them, for the world to see.

So, Thorne decided that she could best take control of her body by releasing them herself. After all, Jennifer Lawrence decided to appear naked in a movie called Red Sparrow in order, as she claimed, to take back control of her body after hackers had exposed it to the world.

That this reasoning defies reason… we will leave to a later paragraph.

For now, the issue concerns one Whoopi Goldberg. Lead hostess of The View, Goldberg had the temerity to declare that a young woman like Thorne should know better than to take and to store naked pictures of herself. Hadn’t she learned anything from the Jennifer Lawrence fappening?

Of course, Goldberg was right. And yet, she was not supposed to say it. In our current state of moral decline we believe that you should be able to do anything you want, and that if anything bad happens, it is always someone else’s fault. In part, this is true. If someone shares your intimate photos, he should be indicted. It is not your fault that you were the victim of a crime. But, that is not really the issue. The real issue is: if you indulge in risky behaviors you are in part responsible for the consequences. Not because you wanted to be victimized. But because if the photos had not been stored on a device or in the cloud, no one would ever be able to share them with the world. It ought to be a self-evident truth. It no longer is.

As I say, Goldberg was right. Nowadays young women routinely take pictures of their naked glory. Sometimes they share with their closest friends. At times, these pictures are passed around the schoolyard. And adults are too afraid to tell these children not to do so. It is moral dereliction of the first order.

The Daily Mail has the story:

Bella Thorne was emotionally distraught after Whoopi Goldberg slammed her on The View for possessing nude selfies which a hacker threatened to release.

During the Hot Topics portion of the ABC talk show on Monday, the Oscar winner, 63, seemingly blamed the actress for the threat: 'I don't care how old you are... you don't take nude photos of yourself.'

Someone has to say it. We are shocked to know that the Goldberg message is so rarely articulated. Could it be that children take these pictures because they have never heard an adult telling them that it is dangerous to do so.

Anyway, Thorne was seriously traumatized… by Whoopi Goldberg. It gets curiouser and curiouser.

The 21-year-old took to Instagram the next day and posted a heartfelt and tearful video in response: 'Shame on you Whoopi. Shame on you for putting that public opinion out there like that for every young girl to think that they're disgusting for even taking a photo like that. Shame on you.'

OK, we do not get our moral lessons from 21 year olds. And yet, Goldberg did not say that these girls were “disgusting.” She advised against risky behavior. What if she had advises against walking on a tightrope without a net. If you do so and fall, no one is going to think that you deserve to fall. But, a lot of people are going to think that you took an unnecessary risk.

Goldberg was offering adult guidance to a generation that seems to have no moral sense. As for the shame, people ho expose their private parts in public has no shame. It might make you feel better to have done so yourself, but the people who look at them are not going to think that you empowered yourself. They are going to think that you demeaned yourself.

Thorne seems to be suggesting, as many of our leading moral midgets do, that if no one had said there was anything wrong with saving such pictures or even sharing them, then there would be no problem.

As for Thorne, she responded to the blackmail threat by posting the pictures herself. And she pretended that she had thereby regained control of her body. Thus, self-shaming is better than allowing someone else to do it. Surely, we all believe that blackmailers should be prosecuted, but people who pretend to gain control of their bodies by exposing them in public are porn stars and strippers. They feel no shame because they have numbed their sense of shame.

I would emphasize that shame is a universal emotion. Normal people in all human societies cover their genitalia… because they do not want other people to think of them in terms of the appearance of their sexual organs. They want to be respected for their good character not for their nakedness. And good character begins when you cover up.

The Daily Mail Continued:

The Florida native - who 'took back the power' from the hacker by posting the nudes herself - began her denunciation on how she was affected by Whoopi's critique.

'Knowing everyone seen my s**t. And I just want to say that me watching this interview made me feel bad about myself. And I hope you're happy. I hope you're so f***ing happy.'

Apparently, taking back the power did not solve the problem. So, Thorne blamed Goldberg for making her feel disgusting. As for the photos themselves, they seem mostly to be topless. I do not know why this leads Thorne to say that everyone has seen her s**t, but that must mean that I lack sophistication. They can now see her tits, but that's all.

Thorne continues to blame Goldberg for the pain experienced by girls who have had their nakedness exposed. And yet, Goldberg was advising against such behavior. She has offered girls a guaranteed way not to have it happen to them. Evidently, Thorne cannot think very clearly:

'I can only imagine all the kids who have their s**t released and then they commit suicide ya know... you're so crazy for thinking such terrible things on such an awful situation.'

Thorne continued, accusing Goldberg of saying that girls deserve to have the photos shared. In truth, and to be fair, Goldberg never said it. She advised caution and pointed out that someone who posts such photos longer controls their distribution:

Bella added one last point to her video.

'Saying if you take a sexy photo then basically it deserves to be leaked like... don't be surprised at all and don't feel sorry for yourself. So if I go out to a party drinking and I want to go dancing on the dance floor... do I deserve to be raped too?'

'Cause to me I see those things really f***ing similar ok?'

Whatever Thorne says, those things are not similar. Dancing on a dance floor is a normal social activity, one that does not involve nudity. Besides, no one said that Thorne deserved to be hacked or that anyone deserves to be raped. We would do well to dial down the outrage, especially when Thorne is using it to distract from her own shame… shame that she brought on herself, not only by taking the pictures, but by posting them.

Goldberg said this:

'Listen... when they're hacking you, they're hacking all of your stuff...whether its one picture or a million pictures... once you take that picture it goes into the cloud and it's available to any hacker that wants it... and if you don't know that in 2019 that this is an issue.. I'm sorry you don't get to do that. You cannot be surprised that someone hacks you.'

The Daily Mail continues:

On Saturday, Bella turned the tables on a hacker who was threatening to post topless pictures of her.

She took the bold choice to post them herself, as she called out the hacker online for making her cry.

'Yesterday as u all know all my s**t was hacked,' she explained on Twitter, continuing: 'For the last 24 hours I have been threatened with my own nudes I feel gross, I feel watched, I feel someone has taken something from me that I only wanted one special person to see.

One hesitates, but one must mention that she can guarantee that only one special person sees her naked by not taking such pictures.

Unfortunately, Thorne is telling girls that the problem with taking such pictures lies uniquely with scolds like Whoopi Goldberg… one of the few who is offering sensible advice. And she is telling them that the best way to limit the danger is for girls to put the photos out themselves.

We allow her the last word:

'For too long I let a man take advantage of me over and over and I’m f***ing sick of it, I’m putting this out because it’s MY DECISION NOW U DONT GET TO TAKE YET ANOTHER THING FROM ME. I can sleep tonight better knowing I took my power back. U can’t control my life u never will.'

No one is going to take anything from you if you decide to give it away... but is that the problem or the solution?